Bobcats Bite 2 Residents

CENTRAL FLORIDA - The Area - In Brief

BREVARD COUNTY In less than a week, two people have been bitten by young bobcats they mistook for ordinary stray kittens.

A 59-year-old Mims woman on Friday became the second Brevard County resident to be bitten. Both bobcats were destroyed.

Cheryle Swink told authorities she found the 6-week-old kitten on her carport outside her Mims home and brought it inside, where it playfully bit her. She put the animal in a box and showed it to her husband when he came home. Bob Swink quickly realized the feline wasn't the offspring of an average tabby. The kitten was taken to a Palm Bay wildlife refuge.

Another woman was bitten by a baby bobcat last week in Titusville, said Dr. Sarog Aggarwal, Brevard's director of epidemiology.

In both cases, the kittens were euthanized so they could be tested for rabies. Samples, which were sent to a Sanford laboratory, should be available in a day or two, she said.

Aggarwal said it isn't abnormal for the bobcats to be out and about as breeding increases during the summer.

"We need to let people know not to pick up these animals or any other wild animals," Aggarwal said. "They should stay away from them because they're taking a great risk. If they really have a big heart, then they should call animal services and let them handle them."

Swink, who wanted the animal spared, said animal authorities told her it would not have had to be killed if she hadn't touched it.